We are creating DIgital Ventriloquized Actors (DIVAs). DIVAs use hand gestures to synthesize audiovisual speech and song by means of an intermediate conversion of hand gestures to articulator (e.g., tongue, jaw, lip, vocal chords) parameters of a three-dimensional vocal tract model.

DIVAs will be used in three composed stage works of increasing complexity to be performed in Canada and internationally, starting with one performer initially and culminating in three performers simultaneously using their natural voices as well as the hand-based synthesizer.

Training performances will be used to study the processes associated with skill acquisition, the coordination of multiple "voices" within and among performers, and the intelligibility and realism of this new form of audio/visual speech production.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $17.4 million in the arts in British Columbia, and $11.8 million in media arts throughout Canada.